John Deere Landscapes Selects Microsoft Dynamics® AX from Columbus

ROYAL OAK, Mich., March 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- First Tech Direct - A Columbus Company, a leading provider of Microsoft Dynamics® solutions, announced today that John Deere Landscapes has selected Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 to replace its existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

John Deere Landscapes provides Supply Chain services for over 400 branch locations throughout North America. The branch locations process upwards of 20,000 order transactions per day and up to 2.5 million line-items per year. John Deere Landscapes was looking to deploy a financial business system that could be easily tailored to their current processes and offer an integrated, user-friendly platform, to further leverage their existing Microsoft investments. John Deere Landscapes will utilize Microsoft Dynamics AX to gain better visibility into operations at all levels to support continued growth and better serve their customer needs.

The key win strategy for Columbus was the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 open architecture, the Application Integration Framework and the world-class Business Intelligence tools such as Management Reporter, MS SRS and role-based dashboards. John Deere Landscapes will be able to leverage flexible user-enabled reporting tools such as MS Excel and Power Pivot as well as the family of MS SQL Server BI tools. Most importantly, John Deere Landscapes needed a reliable and supported ERP system that was familiar to users and provided a better internal collaboration platform through powerful workflows, allowing them to respond quicker to customer needs and expedite order issue resolution.

"The Columbus team focused on the business needs and conducted a thorough Discovery process that looked beyond the initial goal of replacing an unsupported legacy financial system. This transitioned the project from a 'have to do this' to a 'need to do this' project," said Mark LaBelle, Sr. Vice President of Sales at Columbus. "Understanding the Wholesale Distribution Industry allowed Columbus to recognize the future potential of Microsoft Dynamics AX for John Deere Landscapes and deliver a strong foundation to exceed the current financial and reporting needs and allow for future expansion if called upon."

Additional information:

Valerie Silvani, Director of Marketing, Columbus Global
Email: [email protected]  
Telephone: 248.291.0138x108

About First Tech Direct - A Columbus Company

First Tech Direct, a Columbus company, delivers industry expertise as a leading provider of Microsoft Dynamics® business solutions, including Microsoft Dynamics® AX, Microsoft Dynamics® GP, Microsoft Dynamics® SL and Microsoft Dynamics® CRM. Our team of CPAs, MBAs, Microsoft Certified Professionals, and Microsoft Certified Master Consultants are committed to help organizations plan and implement total business solutions. First Tech Direct also provides PTC®'s (The Parametric Technology Corporation®) range of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions for discrete manufacturing companies. Our expertise with improved information access and management, system integration, custom development, training and proven methodologies will help organizations leverage the technology that we provide to stay profitable and competitive in today's economy.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

This press release was issued through eReleases(R).  For more information, visit eReleases Press Release Distribution at http://www.ereleases.com.

SOURCE First Tech Direct